I have a list of gotchas and tricks here: https://learnbyexample.github.io/learn_gnugrep_ripgrep/gotchas-and-tricks.html https://learnbyexample.github.io/learn_

I have a list of gotchas and tricks here: https://learnbyexample.github.io/learn_gnugrep_ripgrep/gotchas-and-tricks.html https://learnbyexample.github.io/learn_gnugrep_ripgrep/gotch... As pointed out in other comments, many of the issues in the post is due to shell, not specific to grep. Especially quoting. Always use single quotes to specify the search pattern, unless other forms of shell quoting is needed. Otherwise, you'll face issues with commands like grep ; ip.txt Another example is searching for a pattern that starts with a hyphen, which causes issue even with quoting $ echo '5*3-2=13' | grep '-2' Usage: grep [OPTION]... PATTERN [FILE]... Try 'grep --help' for more information. You'll need to either escape the hyphen or use -- before the search pattern to prevent it from being treated as a command option. This is needed if a filename starts with a hyphen too.